VC appointment: Cabinet approves bill curtailing Governor’s powers

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala Cabinet on Tuesday approved the bill curtailing the Governor’s powers as Chancellor of state’s universities. The bill alters the structure of the search committee for appointment of Vice Chancellor.

The number of members in the search committee was increased to five from three. The bill is likely to be introduced in the next Assembly session.

The current committee, which includes nominees of the Governor, UGC and University, suggests a panel for VC appointment to the Governor. The Governor who is the Chancellor selects a person of his choice from the panel.

Khan had criticised the State government for the appointment of Vice Chancellors in Calicut, Kannur and Sanskrit universities.

The bill was drafted to prevent the repetition of the incident.

The State government will find it difficult to appoint a candidate of their choice if the Governor’s nominee and UGC’s nominee are different. The present three member committee can submit a panel of three to five names.

As per the new amendment proposed, if two out of three nominees opt for a similar panel, it will become the committee’s official panel. The government is also considering an amendment where the governor has to nominate a candidate suggested by the government.

When both the University nominee and the Governor recommends the panel suggested by the government, only the State’s person of choice can be selected.

Even if the UGC nominee recommends a different panel the Governor cannot consider it.

A  higher education reforms panel headed by  Prof Shyam B Menon had recently suggested that each university should have a separate vice-chancellor with the chief minister becoming a ‘visitor’ to all universities.